


The Darkened Market

by SparkedSynapse



Category: Prince of Persia (Video Game 2008)
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst, F/M, Resentment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:44:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkedSynapse/pseuds/SparkedSynapse
Summary: Scene. PoP 2 / Set Some Time after PoP08 Epilogue. Elika and the Prince are once again working together, though they can both feel an uncomfortable distance between them. Neither of them really wants it there, but the world needs their attention much more than their personal issues. Elika has a duty to her people. And... The Prince understands that because of his actions, he has a duty to her.





	The Darkened Market

**Author's Note:**

  * For [persephinae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/persephinae/gifts).



The Wanderer looked around the darkened marketplace. A perpetual night of sorts had fallen over the place, much like how it had when the Tree of Life was first severed. “There is an exit,” Elika told him, coming back just as he brushed past a woman who seemed to not be paying any mind to her surroundings, haunted by some leeching force. 

“How come the world isn’t…?”

“Dead? Ahriman’s presence will corrupt it slowly. There are too many citizens, too many people still healthy. It will poison this world over time. We have to move quickly.”

“Will you be alright?”

“I can manage. About my exit, Ahriman’s soldiers guard the way. South gate. Or we can go around them, take to the rooftops. I’m fine with fighting head on if you–”

“I don’t want you exerting yourself more than you have to. You’re still…” 

“I’m still weakened from my unintended revival, yes,” she said coldly. “I wonder whose fault that was.” She turned away, her final few words a trembling growl. 

“Elika, look–” he started, and a citizen somewhere nearby howled out in fear. 

“We don’t need to talk about this now,” she pulled together and moved swiftly to the source of the noise, turning corners until she reached the old man in need. He didn’t look like he was from there, but looked as terrified as anyone else. 

“You’re not from… Thisss sectionnn,” one of the guards, one of Ahriman’s Soldiers hissed. “You are from… Oasiss. Warnings were given. Twice.” The soldier drew his sword, darkness trailing from its scabbard. 

“No, you don’t understand-!” the old man cried, turning away from the strike. “I have family–” Blue light interrupted everything. It sizzled out in the air, shaking the world around it, brighter than anything these citizens had seen. Some closed their eyes to it. The Wanderer kept his own open. He’d seen this light many times so far. Even with that, his eyes still burned from its contrast against the darkness of the world. 

“We can’t save everyone,” the Wanderer warned, running up to her as she stumbled, wisps of blue light-smoke floating from her palm and fingertips. He steadied her, and she made use of it for but a moment, quickly separating herself from him and walking toward the still disoriented foe. “I have to try.”

“Elika, it’s not your fault–”

“Stop. This is not the time.” She kept moving. He knew she was right, shut up, drew his own sword. Moving up beside her, he nodded at her, risking a quick smile. She didn’t notice, already moving yet again, slamming a force-palm into the guard’s chest, sending them both staggering away from each other with traces of light misting away between them. The Wanderer righted her again and broke off as soon as he could, dashing behind their foe and putting his long blade at his throat. As surprised as he was by it starting to glow, the Wanderer finished his task, slitting his throat with the light-blessed sword. The darkness that composed the soldier’s body seemed to vibrate, wither, and then dissipate. Gone. The Wanderer looked at Elika and saw her put her misting hand down, as his sword returned to normal too.

“Th-thank you,” the old man told Elika, and the Wanderer stayed back some distance. He reasoned, she needed this. He didn’t want to take unnecessary credit for this, not when it had taken so much out of her. Even now, he noticed how she sagged in this world of darkness, drained of energy. From the old man’s chest, in the middle of his words of gratitude, there swelled a bright light, a sphere about as big as a melon, then bigger still. It floated away from him, and the Wanderer looked at it with awe, and some relief. That hope still existed in the world. 

He looked at Elika, she looked back at him, and he gestured to the orb, with a quiet, “Princess.” Why had he called her that, when she’d so insisted that he didn’t have to? She guessed he wanted to give her the distance she clearly needed. He didn’t understand, but she was thankful anyway. 

She drew a breath, returned his nod from earlier at last, and turned to the Light Seed, resolute and determined. She put her hand on it and immediately the Wanderer saw that it had brought some life back to her, some animate vitality, once again.

A small lantern lit itself, as if by magic, on one of the merchant’s tents. The area had grown a little brighter, and seemed calmer for it. But the rest of the world was still shrouded in tenebrosity, and Elika set out.

“Come, Prince. We’ve got a lot of work to do.” 

He followed her, wondering for the moment why she’d chosen to call him that. The Concubine had given him that name, when she spoke to the two of them during their fights with her; one of Ahriman’s Chosen. She’d laid bare and revealed things then the Prince would’ve rather kept closeby and unsaid. 

As he looked out onto the darkened realm they walked through, he was sure he’d have a lot of time to ponder questions like those and many more. Right now they needed to keep moving. No doubt there were others in need of aid, who still carried light within themselves. The Prince realized how immense the burden must be for her, that she had a duty to these people, given who she was. He realized in the instant after that he had a duty to them too. Because Elika was right about one thing. The darkness the Prince had unleashed was his fault. He saw black veins, black tendrils in his left arm and, startled, blinked them away. Ah… Just a memory of a time gone by. It was nothing. Surely.


End file.
